Well, maybe not really, but it certainly felt like we went that far today. Brandon and I took a road trip to the hospital where I’ll be having my surgery to pre-register. It’s an hour and a half away from my house, and it’s in the boonies. I had to take three different interstates to get there. Those of you who know me, know I can get lost at the drop of a hat, I hate driving on the interstate, and that I am TERRIBLE with directions. Needless to say… I got lost, but only once. That’s not too bad right? And I even I found myself with no help! I called Ronnie, and he laughed at me for getting lost yet again, so I hung up on him and wouldn’t let him help me. I finally made it home, and I was never so relieved to be anywhere before!
Here are the latest photos for my Project 365 project. I will be glad when this year is over. I’ve really enjoyed taking all of the photos, but I’m running out of ideas!
Last Thursday, Jordan had her follow up visit to the pediatrician about her kidneys. We got no new information, but we did get a referral to the urologist. Her appointment with the urologist is October 30. Here she is on the examination table, putting her shoes back on.
On Friday, Brandon was outside playing with his tool set. It’s one of his favorite toys. He just loves banging things with the hammer and hollering. That’s the reason why we call him Bam Bam sometimes!
Saturday morning I made beignets from scratch, I don’t get to bake half as much as I used to. I really enjoyed it. They had to sit in the refrigerator to rise for a few hours, then I fried them up for dinner. The kids absolutely loved the beignets! They are already asking to have them again. Here’s the recipe I used… Beignets
Jordan has known how to write her letters for a while, but she’s starting to make them into words. She was so very thrilled on Sunday when she came up to me and showed me that she’d written “We” on her doodling toy. We’re so proud of her!
On Monday, Brandon was hollering “Daddy’s home!” He always does that as soon as he hears Ronnie’s truck pull up. I happened to be passing by in the hallway, and I snapped this photo instead of the other one I wanted to use for photo of the day. That boy sure loves his Daddy!
Yesterday morning while waiting for the bus, I snapped some photos of Alexis and Jordan sitting in the sunshine. They loved the impromptu photo shoot, and I loved the photos I got from it. The one of Alexis is photo of the day. I just had to include one of Jordan as well.
Last, but not least, is the photo from today. All of my supplies for my surgery on the 7th. I had to buy five prescriptions today so I’ll have them on the day of the surgery, and the folder has my orders and information in it.
I haven’t posted too much information about the surgery, but it’s to help my back pain. I’ve been wanting to get it for a long time, and in a few days, I’ll feel like a new woman! (Or so they tell me…) After my surgery on the 7th, I won’t be around for a week, or maybe even a little bit more. So if you need something email me, and I’ll try to get back to you as quickly as I can.
These past few days have been a roller coaster. Forgive me if I’m not entirely coherent as I’m still suffering from sleep deprivation. I’m going to update my Project 365 photos and type what’s been going on along with them.
Saturday was pretty laid back. After breakfast, the kids went to play in Jordan and Brandon’s room. I walked by and saw Alexis reading to Brandon and Jordan. It was such a sweet scene that I had to grab my camera for the photo of the day shot.
Sunday started out pretty well. The kids were running around and playing football in the house with Ronnie. Don’t worry, they were foam footballs. LOL
Sunday morning when Jordan woke up, she felt a little warm. She looked very pale, and I knew something was wrong. I asked her if she felt okay, and she said “Yes”. As the day went on though, she looked worse. I took her temperature at lunch time and she had a 100 degree fever. I told Ronnie that I wanted to bring her to the emergency room because I felt like she was really sick. He said that I was overreacting, but I knew I wasn’t.
He and Brandon laid down together to take a nap, and I tried to get Jordan to take a nap. She was very restless, and couldn’t sleep at all. All of the sudden she got really still and quiet. I checked her temperature, and she had 103 degree fever. I started packing her up to go to the emergency room, and we left.
When we got to the emergency room, we were brought back immediately, and we saw the doctor a few minutes later. She looked that bad. Her oxygen levels were okay, but based on the fever and everything else they thought she might have the swine flu. So they tested her for that. Both flu tests came back negative. So they drew her blood and tested her urine. Her white blood cell count came back really high, and her urine was filled with bacteria. She had a full blown bladder infection.
Jordan doesn’t have a lot of feeling in her lower extremities due to the cerebral palsy. So she wasn’t feeling any pain to tell me that she had the infection. They decided to start her on IV antibiotics right away and they admitted her to the hospital on Sunday night.
On Monday Ronnie took off of work. He came to the hospital in the morning to let me go home and take a shower. He ended up staying with her overnight because he wanted to be with her, and I took care of the kids at home. Here is a picture of Jordan on Monday. She was so not thrilled to be in the hospital yet again. Yes, she was rolling her eyes at me.
Monday evening when I brought Ronnie the stuff he needed to stay the night with her, I walked in on them doing an ultrasound on her kidneys. I found it strange because the ultrasound tech was looking for her kidneys and couldn’t find them at first. Later he made the comment that her kidney’s were not where they were supposed to be. He was scanning really low near her hip bones, and I watched what he typed in on the machine, and it said “pelvic kidney” for the left side. I asked him for more information, and he refused. He said it was the doctor’s responsibility to tell me the rest, and the doctor had already come by for that day. I came home and looked up pelvic kidneys but couldn’t find much information at all.
On Tuesday morning I got up really early and got to the hospital before the doctor because I had lots of questions. The pediatrician told me that she had two pelvic kidneys (which basically meant that her kidneys never moved into the right position while she was growing). I had walked in on the middle of the ultrasound which is why I originally only thought it was one kidney. The pediatrician said that Jordan has to finish her entire course of oral antibiotics before they can do anymore testing because they will have to insert a catheter to do the tests to see how her kidneys are doing which could reintroduce more infection.
Here is Jordan on Tuesday, taking her nap in hopes that they would let her out of the hospital. The doctor told her to rest, and she took it literally. She slept for three hours!
She did end up getting out of the hospital on Tuesday night. She was thrilled to be home, and her brother and sister were excited to see her. You don’t realize how close they are until they’ve been apart.
Today, I called her regular pediatrician to make a follow up appointment. She’ll go tomorrow, and hopefully I will have more information. The worst part of all of this is not knowing. The only thing they’ve told me is that the position of her kidneys make it highly likely that she will have future bladder and kidney infections, and we may be looking at surgery depending on how badly her kidneys are affected. Please say a prayer for her. We can use all of the prayers we can get.
As for the photo of the day today, I thought this one expressed just how happy Jordan was to be home, and just how happy Brandon was to have her here.
I don’t normally let her have sippy cups anymore, but we are encouraging her to drink all she can to help flush the infection out.
I’m back for a Project 365 update! I’m running behind again. A day late… a dollar short… all of that! As usual.
The title for this post comes from Sunday’s photo of Brandon making chalk art. When I look at him, I think he’s OUR work of art. Such a sweet little man. Easygoing, and happy all the time. He truly is a joy every single day.
Monday’s photo is of all of the stuff I’ve gone through lately in the house to make a donation to the Vietnam Veterans. Something about organizing the house just makes me happy. I’m one of those people who could never be a pack rat. I compulsively de-clutter. LOL Brandon is a bit mad that I’m getting rid of his ride on truck, but he’s entirely too big for it, and it’s become a danger since he’s now started trying to use it as a skateboard.
Jordan had a follow up appointment with her Cerebral Palsy doctor on Tuesday. He said she’s doing well, but within six months are so we’re going to have to make some decisions about how we want to handle the increasing tightness in her calf muscles. She and Brandon love going to visit Dr. Karlin because he has a really big examination table that they play on. This wasn’t the greatest photo. Converting it to black and white only helped a little.
On Wednesday the kid’s school celebrated Grandparent’s Day by having “Gumbo with Grandparents”. Ronnie’s Mom came up and went to the school. After the celebration was over, she came to the house to visit with Brandon for a bit before she went home. I took this picture of him after he picked a “Fower” for his grandma while he was waiting for her on the front porch. (I used a Coffeeshop Action on this one.)
Yesterday, on the way home from dropping Alexis off at gymnastics, I had to stop and get a few groceries. The sun was setting through some clouds behind the grocery store, and I ended up with this photo.
Today, while wandering around trying to find a photo for Project 365, I noticed these really pretty flowers. They are growing wild in the ditch. I don’t know what kind they are, but they open every morning and close at night.
Before I go, I want to share this video… Jordan loves that “I Gotta Feelin'” song by the Black Eyed Peas, so I was thrilled when a friend sent me this video. You can’t listen to this song, or watch the video without smiling. Just try it! (It’s better viewed in Hi on the video player.)
I love grungy, textured papers. They are so much more fun to design. Designing grungy and girlie papers was a fun challenge. This is another of the older kits I had up for sale a while back. I’m offering it for the first time as a digital freebie. I’d love to see your creations with it if you want to link me to them.
Download here. Enjoy!
I’ve got another digital freebie to share. Some of you may have it because it was up on my old blog years ago, but I thought I’d post it here since the old blog is closed, and people who don’t have it can grab it here!
Here is the preview…
Includes three papers, 1 glittery title, and one felt title.
Download here, and I hope you enjoy it!
I’m back for a Project 365 update. There will be another digital freebie soon! I’ve been neglecting my blog a bit because we’ve all had the flu at my house lately. I don’t know if it was the regular “human” flu or the swine flu. Their doctor refused to test because, “The treatment is the same, and insurance companies won’t pay for it." I know it wouldn’t help their health either way to know, but it would do wonders for my peace of mind. Anyway! Enough whining. Here’s the update…
For Labor Day our identity theft issue was still up in the air which meant we had no money to do anything. We ended up hanging around the house and playing in the backyard with some of the kid’s friends. They even ended up eating dinner with us. While the kids were playing in the backyard, Ronnie decided to spend some time washing his Camaro. Of course, the kids had to get in on the fun. I can’t tell you how much Ronnie loved this photo when I showed it to him later.
On Tuesday Brandon was REALLY sick. He went from feeling mildly sick to super sick really fast. He didn’t sleep Monday night because he kept choking in his sleep on the sinus drainage. It was awful. So on Tuesday I brought him to see the doctor. She said he had the flu and that he wasn’t getting a prescription because they have to save the Tamiflu for people who are in the hospital. She told me to alternate Mucinex, and pain relievers for his fever. We had to stop by Wal-mart to pick up more medicine, and he ended up getting new jammies, and a foam football to cheer him up a bit.
On Wednesday, for the photo of the day I snapped a quick one of the girls with their new key chains on their backpacks. One of the sweet ladies who reads my blog, saw that the girls had the same backpacks and sent them key chains so they could tell whose backpack was whose! I had to take a photo so she could see how happy she made them. Thanks Reyanna! Sorry the photo is so dark, it was taken in the early morning before the bus came.
Speaking of friends… I have the best online friends ever! Thursday’s photo is of Jordan in her new poncho that my buddy Michelle sent her. Her adorable daughter had outgrown some clothes, and has a very similar girlie style to Jordan. So Michelle sent me a whole box of clothes. Jordan was immediately attracted to this poncho and threw it on over her school clothes, and demanded to wear it to school the next day! It’s been 80 degrees out lately, so she’ll have to wait just a bit longer. LOL
Friday was treasure box day at school for Jordan, since she was good all week she got to pick a prize out of the box. She came home with a spider ring. I remember having those when I was little! She kept walking around with it and “scaring” Brandon. She’s walk up to him, and he’d say… “Ahhhh, I ‘cared!” It was hilarious. Here she is examining the creepy thing closer. She’s got the daintiest little fingers.
Today while Ronnie and Jordan were taking a nap, Brandon and Alexis were playing in my room while I scrapbooked. I got out my color pencils and let them color. After a bit, I looked over and saw the two of them laid back like this. Brandon loves to imitate his big sisters. Sometimes that’s a good thing, and sometimes it’s a bad thing! We call it “Monkey see, monkey do.” LOL Yes, they were still in their pajamas. Today was a jammie day because it rained all day and we are all still feeling a bit under the weather. This flu has just been so hard to kick.
My kids have new friends! I didn’t realize we had so many children living in our neighborhood. With our big fenced in yard, we tend to be a bit isolated. The kids prefer to play in the back yard, and it’s much less nerve-wracking for me because I know they can’t get out! The other day we saw a little girl out on our street as we pulled up from bringing Alexis to gymnastics. She walked over to the van and asked if our kids could play. A few days later she knocked again, and she brought her friends, and our yard has become one big party. LOL Here’s a photo of everyone spinning around on our tire swing.
On Wednesday, Brandon and I went to a local park I’ve been wanting to visit for a while. I was inspired to finally go by the fabulous Nichole, who has been having adventures with her kids, and taking fantastic photos in the bargain.
Here is my favorite photo of the day… That’s not a tree trunk. That’s a tree LIMB! On a huge fabulously gorgeous Live Oak Tree! Of course Mr. Brandon, being the boy that he is, had to climb it. Then he had to hug it. He melts my heart. Every. Single. Day. *Sigh*
Here’s a zoomed out photo so you can see the limbs trailing to the ground.
A little perspective on how HUGE this tree was… He’s sitting on a root, and I couldn’t fit the whole trunk in one shot.
Did I mention this park has a lakefront beach? No?!
It was our first time going there, and it’s only 20 minutes from my house! Needless to say, we’ll be going again. Because guess who absolutely loved it?
On Thursday, Jordan stayed home from school. She’s had this horrible cough and runny nose, I couldn’t get a doctor’s appointment until Friday. So I ran to the pharmacy to try to get some over the counter stuff to help her. She stayed in her pajamas all day. Doesn’t she just look miserable? Don’t pay any attention to the boy in the background. Seriously? Boys are icky! LOL
Apparently no matter what’s wrong with you… suckers make it better. On Friday at the pediatrician’s office, the diagnosis was a really bad sinus infection, and she’s on steroids AND antibiotics. I’m hoping she gets better soon, because although she looks pretty happy with her sucker, she really hasn’t been well at all. You can tell by how pale she is, her skin looks almost grey.
On Friday we also learned that our identity had been stolen. Ronnie logged into our bank account online, and discovered a balance of -$12oo.00 on our checking/debit account. Yep. Our account has been frozen, and we are penniless for 7 days. Our savings account is linked to our debit account, so it’s frozen as well. We could borrow money from friends or family while the bank takes it’s sweet time resolving the charges, but I’d rather not. So Ronnie went and cashed in our coins, and we were able to buy the milk and stuff that we needed. It really stinks that there are people out there in the world who think that’s okay. Seriously! Get a job, and a conscience for goodness sake! I’m just glad we caught it so quickly. It shouldn’t cause any issues on our credit.
On Saturday, the boys in the family were hanging out watching TV together and pretending to nap. Brandon would say, “I’m tired!” “Go sleep Daddy!” It was too cute, so of course I had to grab my camera. Lady jumped in the photo as well. She didn’t want to be left out. Her vet appointment has been postponed due to the money issue we’re having, but she actually seems to have improved.
And last but not least, I had help making our Sunday breakfast. Miss Jordan demanded to stir the pancake batter, and since I never refuse help cooking, here she is! She loves helping me cook almost as much as she loves sitting on the kitchen counters.
A while back I promised to post some of my older papers that I designed when I was selling at Elemental Scraps. I’ve also decided to post some digital and paper tutorials and tips and tricks from some of the classes I taught when I was teaching at my local scrapbook store. I have all of this stuff on my hard drive… so why not share?
First up is my Katrina kit. It was done specifically for my grandmother to scrap some of her photos from the storm, but the colors lend themselves very nicely to masculine layouts. Here is the preview…
There are also a few embellishments that are not pictured. A rusty iron alphabet and fleur de lis frame, a velvet flower, and two detailed word art pieces.
I have it separated into several links for those of you on dial up!
Enjoy them, and feel free to link me to anything you make with them, I’d love to see!
Alexis: “Hey Mom!” “Did you know we’re learning all about the past in class this week?”
Me: “No.” “Really?”
Alexis: “Yeah, Ms. Carter was talking about the 80’s!” “Were you alive in the 80’s?”
Me: “I was born in 1980.”
Alexis: (With a look of shock on her face) “Holy cow Mom, you’re old!”
Me: “I’m not that old!”
Alexis: “I bet they still had grey TV (She meant black and white.) when you were little!”
Me: “No they didn’t!” “I had color TV!”
Alexis: “Still… that’s really old.” “I didn’t know you were born that far in the past.” “I bet you saw Smokey the Bear in person!” (They’re doing fire safety this week.)
Me: “Sigh.”
While designing a sketch for the paper layout above in Photoshop, I decided that it was cool enough to convert into a template. (Special thanks to Heather Munsterman photography for the photos!)
I ended up liking the sketch so much that I made a digital layout with it as well. I used a kit by Amy Sumrall called Children's Day and a Flocked Alpha by Christina Rene. The font is called Typewriter.
Here is a preview of the template design. Of course I changed mine up a little bit as you can see by the example layout. I’m offering the template to you as a freebie.
I hope you enjoy it! You can Download Here.
